Page 61 of Hunting His Vampire Mate

“Do you understand what will happen if Danny loses control?” Thierry’s voice went dangerous, and his gaze slid past Michael and landed on me. “You’re one mistake away frombecoming the very sort of monster you hunt. Is that a risk you’re truly willing to take?”

Michael sighed. “We’ll be fine. Danny will stay next to me the entire time. We can deal with a nest of vamps.”

Thierry let out a little laugh, but anger flashed in his eyes. “I apologize if I’ve said anything that makes you believe this is a discussion. The answer is no. You’re not going.”

Michael nodded, then took a step back. He still had his back to me, so I couldn’t see his face. I imagined that his expression was steely and stubborn, though. I could feel his grim resolve through the blood bond. And his whole body went tense, like he was preparing for a throw-down.

“Yeah,” he said, taking another step back, away from the vampire. “We figured you might say that.”

Thierry seemed to understand that he’d been played in the very same moment, because he zipped forward. And then he slammed into an invisible wall.

His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open in horror. “What is this?”

Michael pointed at the line of enchanted black powder we’d poured over the threshold, courtesy of our witch contact in Vegas. Shereallydidn’t like it when we popped up, but we had put down the murderous demon she’d accidentally conjured several years back, in return for her promise that she’d help us every now and again. “It’s a boundary spell, tied to the cycles of day and night. It’ll break at sunrise. We werehopingyou’d see reason and let us go do our jobs.” He shrugged. “But we figured you wouldn’t. So.”

“You unimaginable idiots!” Thierry hissed, but there was no mistaking the naked fear on face. His gaze landed on me again. “Don’t do this!”

“We’ll be back in a couple hours,” Michael said. Through the bond, he added,I’m driving, by the way.

I snorted but rolled my eyes.Fine. But I’m picking the music.

He grinned, fishing the car keys out of his pocket and shaking his head.You wish.

Thierry banged on the invisible wall of the boundary spell and shouted after us, but we ignored him as we piled into the car. I felt a pang of guilt, though. Thierry was kind of a dick, but he had come here to help. And what if he was right?

We’ll be okay,Michael replied silently, catching my thoughts. He slipped the key into the ignition and turned it. The engine purred to life. He added,you said it yourself: we’ve done this a million times before. This is nothing new.

I nodded, trying to banish my unease. But it wouldn’t quite go.

* * *

Bryan and Tobias called us twenty minutes later, just before midnight, hours earlier than we’d thought they would. We met them in the parking lot of a grocery store on the edge of town. There wasn’t a single other soul around, which is why we’d chosen this as a meeting place. It didn’t make sense to take any chances.

They stood in front of us while we leaned against the back of Michael’s car. They both looked exhausted and bedraggled, but they had come.

They both stared at me like I was an alien.

“So, this isn’t what we expected,” Tobias said, by way of greeting.

His pulse beat in his throat, pumping his hot, red blood through his body. I could almost feel my teeth breaking through his skin, the pure vitality flooding into my mouth…

You doing okay?Michael’s gaze snapped to me. I felt his unease ripple through the bond.

Feeling shame wash through me, I nodded.

“You guys… um,” Bryan’s gaze flicked down to Michael and I’s joined hands. “This isn’t really what we were expecting to find.”

He looked back up at me, his eyes wide and disbelieving. I could interpret his unspoken questions just fine. I was probably supposed to be tied up in the barn, half-crazed with hunger, barely even still a person. I wasn’t supposed to be calmly holding my mate’s hand in the empty parking lot of a grocery store, in the middle of the night, while we talked about destroying a nest of evil vampires.

“It’s been an eventful forty-eight hours,” I agreed. But I felt relief that they were here. It was surprisingly good to see Bryan again.

“Where’s Thierry?” Tobias asked, eyeing us.

“He’s back at the motel,” Michael replied, without missing a beat. “We’re going to take care of the vamp nest. Then we’re headed up to Seattle, I guess.”

“And he just let you guys go?”

Michael shrugged. “He’s fine. And we’ll be back in the morning.”

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